Shredding-machine.



ATENTBD OCT. V20, 1903.. M. I'. WILLIAMS.

SHREDDING MACHINE.

ArPLIoA'rIoN FILED APB. 29. 1901.

l A 1 u l 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

N0 MODEL.

No. 741,947. PATENTBD 00T. zo, 190s. M. P. WILLIAMS. SHRBDDING MACHINE.

, APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, 1901.

NO MODEL. A 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ivo. 741,947.

MILTON F. WILLIAMS, OF ST. LOUIS,

Patented October 20, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

" MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR 'ro WILLIAMS PATENT CRUSHER dr PULVERIZER COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, `MISSOURI,

A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

SHREDDING-MACHINE.

SIJEcIFIoATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,947, dated oett 2o, reos.

Application filed April 29, 1901.

To @Zt whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, MILTON F. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing atthe city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have in- 5 vented a certain new and usefullmprovement in Shredding-Machines, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, ref- Io erence being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in Which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional View of my improved shreddingmachine. Fig. 2 is a topv plan view of the same, the cover being removed. Fig. 3 is a detail side elevational view of a portion of the casing. Fig. 4. is a detail sectional View showing the manner of mounting the cage-bars in posizo tion; and Fig. 5 is a side elevational view,V

partly in section, of a modified form of shredding-machine.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in a machine for shredding bark, roots, and other fibrous material, the object being to construct a machine of the character described in a simple and cheap manner, said machine being efficient in operation and having a large capacity.

With these objects in View the invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts, all as will hereinafter be described, and afterward pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, A indicates the side walls of the casing, which carry bearings for a transversely-arranged beater-shaft B. This shaft has mounted upon its ends a drivingpulley and a fly-Wheel, respectively, for Wellm4o understood purposes.

O indicates the end walls of the casing, the front end wall being formed with an upwardly and outwardly extending portion, to the upper end of which is bolted or otherwise l secured the breaker-plate D. The front wall immediately under the breaker-plate is provided With a recess for receiving a finger-bar or plate E, said bar extending transversely the machine and having its ends project 5o through openings in the side Walls of the -the drawings being circular.

Serial No- 57.957. (No model.)

casing. This linger-bar is provided with fingers f, whose upper ends are tapered, as shown. These fingers may be screwed or otherwise secured in position and may be of any shape in cross-section, those shown in thedrawings being circular, two sides thereof being fiattened and tapered to form a cutting edge at the upper extremity of the finger.

The breaker-plate before referred to is comparatively thick at its lower edge adjacent 6o the finger-bar recess, as shown in Fig. l, so that .when bark or other fibrous material is fed into the machine it must pass over the 'inner edge of what might be termed the over` l hanging breaker-plate, and when struck by the beaters the end of the bark will be forced down upon the sharp knife-like fingers and splintered, the action of the beaters tending to draw the bark into the mill and over the fingers. In order that the knife-bar maybe 7o adjusted not only to take up the Wear of the knife-fingers, but also to accommodate the different materials that may be introduced into the machine, I provide set-screws g in the bottom wall of the recess in which the knifebar is seated, as shown in Fig. l. The side walls of the casing through which the ends of the knife-bar project are formed with suitable housings ct, in the bottom Wall of which are arranged set-screws, as before described, 8o said housings also accommodating retaining bars or keys H, (see Fig. 3,) which extend across the projecting ends of the knife-bar and hold said knife-bar in position. These keys are preferably tapered slightly, so as to be operative in the dierent adjustments of the set-screws. The front wall at the base of itsI inclined upper portion is provided Witha lip c, which not only forms one of the side walls of the recess or groove in which the 9ov knife-bar is seated, but said lip also provides an abutment for the curved side bars lof the grinding-cage. These curved side-bars fit loosely in grooves in the inner faces of the side walls A (see Fig. 4) and carry trans- 95 Versely-arranged cage-bars t, which may be shaped in any desired cross-section, those in These cagebars are loosely introduced in the openings in their supporting -bars I, and I prefer to loo tion against rotation.

' holding the cage in position.

v wardly andoutwardly.

drill or otherwise form a small hole at the edges of the openings in which the cage-bars are seated. (See Figs. land 4.) A small pin t" is now loosely introduced into the hole so formed, which pin locks its cage-bar in posibar I, leaving an end wall in the cage-bar t', so that when the pin is introduced in position it is prevented from longitudinal movement in aninward direction by this end wall, the side frame A preventing the outward movement of the pin. A knockdown cage is thus produced any individual bar of which may be removed without taking the cage to pieces, and when the cage is in the machine the bars are rigid to the extent that they are held against rotation.

J indicates the cover of the machine, which is bolted or otherwise secured to the ,anges of the back and side walls, said cover havingA an inwardly-projecting lip j extending over the rear ends of bars I for the purpose of In order to free the beaters of any material which they may attempt to carry around the machine, I introduce bolts K in the casing at various points, the inner ends of said bolts being pointed or blunt, as desired, and in proximity to the path of travel of the ends of the beaters. These bolts are threaded through the casing, and therefore are adjustable iu- To lock the bolts in position, I arrange jam nuts 7s thereon for well-understood purposes. The cross-section of the inner ends of these bolts maybe as desired. The cover of a machine provided with these bolts,which serve as fingers,practically forms an inverted concave for cooperating with the beaters. The forward edge of the cover is provided with a plate L, having a tlangel directed inwardly, said flange acting as a deliecting-lip to direct the circulating air and loose particles of material inwardly, thus preventing their escape through the feed-opening of the machine.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a plate L', which extends laterally through openings in the side wall of the cover, said plate being held in adjustable position by set-screws Z', while keys or wedges Z engage the side faces of the plate to lock the same in position. In this manner the plate, which serves as a deiecting-lip, can not only be quickly and readily removed, but can be adjusted inwardly and outwardly, so as to just clear the path of the beaters.

The shaft B, before referred to, carries a series of disks or plates M, in which are arranged beaters N. These beaters are pivotally mounted on through bolts n, strung through the plates M, whereby the beaters are hinged to their supports, and while held in a radial position by centrifugal force during the operation of the machine are free to yield or fold backward in the event of their striking any hard foreign substance which In drilling the opening for this pin I prefer to drill through the tage.

would oifer an exceptional resistance. These beaters N in handling fibrous material are preferably provided with sharp points at their extremities, these points being formed by beveling one side of the bar of which the beater is composed or forming a V-shaped groove in the ends of the bar, in which latter event two points are provided. Each beaterbar has both ends formed with points, as above described, and near each end an opening n is provided, whereby either end of the beater-bar may be pivoted upon the pivotbolt n. In the use of a double-pointed beater it will be observed that four points are capable of presentation in the work of the machine. For instance,when the advance point is worn the through-bolt 'rt may be removed and the beater-bar reversed, presenting the unworn point in advance and locating the worn point to the rear. When this newlypresented point is worn, the bolt n may be removed and the beater-bar turned end for end, the worn points being at the end which is pivoted to the supporting-plates and the unworn points being at the outer end. When the advance point is worn, the bolt can be again removed and the beater-bar reversed to present its unworn point at the advance edge. Where the beater-bars are provided with single points, it is obvious that the wearing of one point will necessitate the removal of the bolt n and the turning of the beater-bar end for end to present its unworn point to do the work.

The arrangement of the supporting-plates M is substantially the same as that shown and described in my Patent No. 589,236,dated August 3l, 1897, and therefore I do not claim this arrangement of supporting-plates in this application. I will, however, state that the particular form of supporting-plates and the manner in which they are nested or grouped on the'shaft enables the beater-arms to be staggered, so that two adjacent rows practically cover the entire striking area across the machine.

O indicates a pipe extending across the upper portion of the hopper and adjacent the deflecting-lip, which pipe is connected with some suitable source of water or low-pressuresteam supply. The lower wall of this pipe is slotted or provided with a series of small perforations for directing the contents of the pipe downwardly and inwardly. The purpose of liquid or moisture so introduced is not only to lay the dust which is generated in the machine, but said liquid or moisture cover- I ing the feed-opening of the machine and forming substantially a curtain will catch any dust trying to escape from the machine. In addition to this where the machine is used for grinding bark the introduction of moisture or liquid upon the bark is of advantage in that it tempers the bark and places it in condition to be comminuted to the best advan- The bark used in tanneries contains iibers which run substantially parallel to each other, and in reducing such bark the over-` grinding-surface.

hanging breaker-plate is of great value in that as the hammers strike the bark it is broken into short pieces before it is received onto the grinding-surface. These breaks in the bark occur across the fibers, so that the bers are in short lengths. When the bark is broken on the overhangin g breaker-plate, it is forced down onto the knife-edges of the fingers, which tends to split the bark in the direction of its fibers, as shown in Fig. 5. These fingers, however, perform the additional function of impaling the bark and holding it for the action of the beaters, which break the bark again as it passes over the lower edge of the finger-bar. When the bark is received on the grinding-surface, it is in the best condition to be acted upon by the beaters, being in small pieces, so that the work of the beaters acting upon the bark on the grinding-surface is considerably reduced, enabling the beaters to more readily disintegrate the bark of a size sufficient to render its ready escape between the bars of the Thus the capacity of the machine is greatly increased, while the amount of power necessary to operate the machine is relatively small.

It is obvious that the knife-edge impaling and splitting fingers may be dispensed with, as but little power is necessary to break the bark longitudinally the fibers. I will state, however, that the overhanging breaker-plate is quiteimportant in breaking the bark transversely the fibers. The bark to be operated upon usually comes in long lengths in the form of slabs of varying thickness, the liber running longitudinally thereof. This bark is fed into the machine lengthwise, and consequently is in the best position to have its fibers broken transversely over the overhanging breaker-plate.

The breaker-'plate D referred to is strengthened by ribs of gradually-increasin g thickness on its under side, the spaces between making the breaker-plate comparatively light for the work required of it. In order to replace the inner edge, I provide a removable plate d, which is bolted to the breaker-plate by countersunk bolts, the nuts tightening said bolts being received in the spaces between the ribs on the under side of the breaker-plate.

I am aware that minor changes in the arrangement, construction, and combination of the several parts of my device can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without in the least departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a shredding-machine or the like, the combination with revolving beaters, of a cooperating with said beaters to break the material, and impaling-fingers arranged at the inner side of and inwardly beyond the said breaking edge of said plate and having their upper ends below said edge; substantially as described. Y

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with beaters, of a breakerplate, a grooved seat arranged in j uxtaposition thereto, a removable inger-bar in said seat, set-screws upon which said finger-bar is arranged, the ends of said finger-bar projecting through openings in the side walls of the casing, and a tapered key cooperating with the projecting ends of the nger-bar for locking said finger-bar in position; substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination with a breaker-plate, of impaling-ingers adapted to enter and split the material being acted upon and arranged at the inner side of the breaking edge of said plate, and pointed revolving beaters for forc ing the material passing over the said edge down onto the iingers and inwardly into the machine; substantially as described.

5. In a machine of the character indicated, the combination with beaters, of a front wall, a lip extending therefrom, a finger-bar supported upon one side of said lip, and a cage having side bars abutting at their forward ends against the other side of said lip; substantially as described.

6.` Ina machine of the character indicated, a casing having a feed-opening, operating members in said casing, and means for directing a sheet of liquid across the whole of said feed-opening; substantially as described.

7. In a machine of the character indicated, a casing having a feed-opening, operating members in said casing, and a pipe arranged in juxtaposition to said casing above said feed-opening and provided with an opening or openings for discharging a sheet of liquid downwardly across the whole of said opening; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 24th day of April, 1001.

MILTON F. WILLIAMS.`

Witnesses:

GEORGE BAKEWELL, RALPH KALIsr-r.

IOC 

